It would have been easy to fit this in the Feature but eh from the looks of it, this series could really be ending soon so I’ll just stick it out.

As I was filling in the info for this, I noticed the site copy and pasted some stuff from the last album. Haha. Not the first time their own site has been incorrect but I guess at this point it’s not top priority for them.Album Name: Exit Trance presents Speed Anime Trance Best 21Artist/Circle: EXIT TUNES (Quake Records)Release Date: 04/02/2014Website: http://anitra.jp/title/21.html

回レ！雪月花
For some reason I’m actually familiar with the original of this song. It was kind of charming. si-na and YURiE is an interesting vocal duo because the latter’s more mature (well, compared to si-na) sound lends a lot to it. There were some points in the chorus where they didn’t sound that great but I think it’s just that I’ve never been a huge si-na fan. She did sound cute sometimes though. It’s plazma for the song and it is kinda fun and upbeat but didn’t add much else.

Music S.T.A.R.T
This is kind of an unusual choice, to be honest. It’s a Love Live track but it wasn’t one from the show. Did they do any Love Live tracks before? I’m sure that they haven’t but my memory of 20 is foggy. Despite being an MK track, it’s rather uninspired? Like it’s MK so I still notice some cool stuff in it like the background vocals but otherwise it was pretty unexciting. Maybe Sayuri and 405 helped that. They aren’t bad and while I couldn’t pinpoint them to any of the specific u’s girls, they’re kind of fitting.

True Blue Traveler
Some generic anisong from Infinite Stratos originally. Not much to go on. Latte sounds really good and I did like the song near the end when it slowed down a little bit. Otherwise meh.

Stand Up!!!
But Fang-tan. what are you looking for in a song if all these have been disappointing? Well Kinoto delivers. There’s a lot going on and it’s fun and energetic. The vocals are fitting and actually stand out.

届かない恋
I want to like this one a lot because Kana’s vocals are so good but they seem so unfitting to the track. It could work, it really could. She has such a lovely tone befitting of winter and of the original track but it just doesn’t seem to match what plazma has set up for her and it’s a real shame.

シンクロマニカ
I love, love, love the original of this. It’s probably the only thing I’ll remember about Galilei Donna. And Dizzi Mystica has gone such a unique and interesting route for the song that I was really excited! MFMW just doesn’t suite it for me though. There’s some parts where her voice just doesn’t seem strong enough. She’s lovely, sure. I just wish they would have went with someone more experienced. It seems like a waste.

なないろびより
This album sure turned itself around. I didn’t really like 405’s vocals in this one since it seemed they were trying too hard to replicate the vocalist of nano.RIPE and failing but after awhile it didn’t seem like that and that she had her own personal touch to add and it really made it work. The song itself is pretty chill and fun and holds it all together, thankfully.

The Other self
Hey there… hideki. Not my favourite male vocalist to be sure. Doesn’t help that the song is back to plain and eh. When it isn’t and it’s actually doing something interesting, hideki’s vocals kind of get in the way.

WALK
LTT? The name sounds unfamiliar. Well compared to hideki he sounds pretty dang good. Sorry, hideki. Song has some emphasize on guitar which was pretty cool, I guess.

Imagination > Reality
MK’s track seven was really good and while this one doesn’t quite make it there, it’s still got some neat parts to it. puchi is a satisfying vocalist, especially compared to some. She’s nice and clear and her vocals have personality while not overshadowing the rest of the song, again, unlike some other vocalists before her.

Anicca
What a surprise! Machine Doll’s OP so I’m not familiar with the original but I really liked this. From the beginning, there’s a long build up to the vocals which are done by Haruka (?) and are really nice. The song then gets occasionally kinda rock-ish and it’s cool. Basically, this is what I really want. All kinds of neat things going on with the track. Does not hurt a single bit that the vocals are so nice.

も・ぎ・た・て フルーツガールズ
From one really good track back to another bland one. Icon, Sayuri and さつき blah blah blah.

シリウス
Actually really understated and tame for the most part for a Hommarju track. Now let’s be real here for a second. Sirius is a bland, generic song to the fullest. Ambiguous toppled it a million times over. That being said, this is actually rather nice. It would have been cool if Hommarju had done more with it but the vocalist, mai, is really nice and a def improvement over the original.

BEAUTIFUL SKY
Man there’s a lot of SAYURI here. She’s joined by Natsuhi. An odd combination but I guess it works? Was initially disappointed but it’s actually pretty fun. The chorus sounds a bit garbled but other than that, solid.

革命デュアリズム
mi-mi and Hideki. Huh. Sure. Okay. mi-mi doesn’t sound that bad in place of Nana but man like I’ve made my feelings about Hideki clear. Nothing had changed. And again, another Hommarju track that’s really tame and eh? Dang.

Fang’s Rating:

It felt like for every good track, there was two really bland ones. An abundance of Hideki did nothing for me either.Recommended tracks: 2, 6, 7, 11

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4 Comments

Diziyyuki

April 29, 2014

Hideki used to be a favorite of mine, but lately he’s been growing stale. He used to be amazing in the older albums (especially in BL)

Also, I’m kind of convinced that 慧 is secretly 405. Both “vocalists” have tackled nano.RIPE songs, and they kind of sound like the same person when they do them. I could be wrong though.

Yeah I don’t think he always used to be so… bleh? But the last few appearances of his have been really disappointing.

I forgot to list 13! I actually ended up liking it a lot more after listening to it a bunch more.

Diziyyuki

May 3, 2014

That’s how I feel about 11. I wasn’t sure about Haruka’s vocals (especially during the verses) but she more than redeems herself during the chorus, and I’ve ended up enjoying the track more than I thought.